Electric sorting machine for perforated cards



Jan. 24, 1928.

F. R. BULL ELECTRIC SORTING MACHINE FOR PERFORATED CARDS Filed Feb. 7, 1924 3 Sheets-Sheet l IIIIIII l l I I I I I IHEILIE E Jan. 24, 1928.

F. R- BULL ELECTRIC SORTING MACHINE FOR PERFORAT". CARDS Filed Feb. 7, 1924 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 Jan. 24, 1928. v 1,656,999

' F. R. BULL ELECTRIC SORTING MACHINE FOR PERFORATED CARDS Filed Feb. '7, 1924 s Sheets-Shut 5 5. [i 30 7 1's Q9 /3 Patented Jan. 24, 1928.

PATENT OFFICE. T

rnnnnrx nosme BULL, or OSLO, NORWAY.

ELECTRIC SORTING MACHINE FOR PERFORATED CARDS.

Application filed February 7,

Electric sorting machines for perforated cards for statistical and similar purposes are known. In such machines the sorting op eration is effected as follows: At the moment, at which a perforation of the card passes an electric contact device, an electric circuit is closed, which sets the guiding member which conveys the card into its respective pocket. The cards must pass through the machine one behind the other at a certain distance apart and, as ,they must be conveyed slowly past the electric contact device, the number of cards that the machine can deposit in the course of a minute depends on the distance between the separate cards of the series passing through the machine.

The guiding members, the current impulse of the contact device, are usually returned to their initial position during the interval between the bringing into position of two cards. In order that the return of the guiding members may not be too sudden, the interval of time between the cards must be relatively great at the expense of the efliciency of the machine. The object of the present invention is to avoid these difficulties bymaking it possible to pass the cards through the machine very rapidly in succession, without any part of the machine being required to move with excessive violence. The invention is mainly characterized by the feature that between the card contact device and the guiding members for-the cards a device is provide consisting of a. rotating part with one or more series of steel pins, each series having as many steel pins as there are sorting pockets in the machine, the steel pins sliding on a stationary guide-way but being capable of falling below the said guide way under the action of an ,electromagnet connected to the card contact and of closing a circuit there during their further. forward movement in the machine, which circuit sets the guiding members at the moment at which the card is in front of its correct pocket.

The invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawin in which Fig. 1 is a iagrammatic view of the arrangement for conveying the cards to the various pockets.

which are set' by.

1924, Serial Ito-691,316, and in Norway January 13, 1923.

Fig. 2 shows partly in section the device provided between the card contact device and the guiding members for transmitting the impulses from the former to the latter.

Figs. 3 and 4 are plan views of the arrangement shown in Fig. 2, various parts being omitted in Fig. 4.

Figs. 5 and 6 show respectively one contact of each of two series of contacts arranged in connection with the device shown in Figs. 2, 3 and 4.

Fig. 7 shows a fragmentary detail on an enlarged scale of the device shown in Fig. 4, viewed from the inside.

Fig. 8 is a fragmentary perspective detail on an enlarged scale of an operating mechanism for the guiding members.

The cards to be dealt with are piled up on the board 1 and are conveyed from there one by one in a known manner by means of a pushing member 2 between rollers 3-3 past a contact device 4. After the rollers 3 have released the card, the latter is caught by a conveyor, which conveys it along in front of the flaps f f f.,, which guide the cards to their respective pockets. The conveyor may be constructed in various ways, for instance, as shown in the drawing. it may con- 'sist ofa flexible band 5 with projecting parts 6, which catch the card and support it. In the drawing only one conveying band is shown. at number. of such bands may of course be disposed next to one another. On

.this band several cards (in the present ex-- ample six) will lie at the same time, all of which are on the way to thei respective pockets. The setting of the flaps or guiding members, conveyer, must therefore take place at a definite time after the card has passed the contact device 4. Supposing a card is intended for the pocket t and the following card for the pocket i it will be seen that the guiding member for the; latter card must be set sooner than the guiding member for the former card.

For this purpose means are introduced between the contact device 4 and the guiding members f, f which receive the im-' pulses from the contact device and transmit them at the correct moment to theguiding members for" the cards.

which remove the card from the pockets for the. cards,

, such shown under the pin 2' The said means consist of a stationary annulus 30, which is attachedby means .of uprights 31 to a base plate 32. The annulus 30 has a short gap (Figs. 3, 4 and 7) ,which is filled partly by the tooth 33 on the arma-f ture of the :electromagnet 34 and partlyby an inclined surface 35, which is located in front of the tooth '33 (in the direction of the arrow in"Fig.4), and the lowest part of which lies below the annulus 30, while its highestpoint lies in the plane ofthe uper edge of the tooth'33. WVithin the annuus 30 and keyed on a shaft 36 is a cylinder 37, in which several series of radial resilient steel pins 2' are fixed, in the example shown six such series. Each series is provided with as many steel pins as there are sorting in the example shown t'en' pins i z',. The ends of these steel pins rest normally on the inner edge of the annulus 30 (Figs. 2 and 3), against which they are pressed by their own resilience. The pins are at an equal distance apart and the rotation of the cylinder 37 with the steel pins 11 is caused to take place in such a manner that ten pins pass one point of the annulus 30 synchronously with the forward movement of the card past a contact brush.

On the armature of the magnet 34 being atwhen a hole in the card passes the tracted,

brush, the tooth 33 will be withcontact drawn and the steel pin, which at this r'n0' ment rests on thetooth will fall down. During the further rotationof the cylinder 37 this steel pin will move along below the annulus 30, while the remaining pins will slide along its upper'side. (Figs. 5 and 6.)

Along the lower edge of the annulus 30 at the marks 17,, 1),, p p, small springs 38 are provided (shown in Fig. 5), which are acted on by the steel pins 1', which have fallen down. of the pins the pin 11, which is below the annulus 30, will move a piece of steel (steel ball) 39, which is fixed to the end of the spring 38, against a'stop member on the upper side of the contact making spring :40 (Fig. 5), the spring 40 being depressed and making contact with a screw 41 in the base plate" 32.

The plate 42 (Fig. 2) rotates together with the 'cylinder 37 and the steel pins 2, the lower side ofwhich plate is provided with as many contact making knobs 43 (Figs. 2 and 6) as there are series of steel pins, in the case'shown in the drawing six series. These knobs 43 lie under the first steel pin of each series, in the example The knobs 43 coact with spring contacts44, in the example shown ten such contacts, which are mounted on the base plate 32 at the marksp p',, p 2 tacts 44 are connected in pairs in series with the ten contacts 40 at the marks 10,, p 2),

During the further rotation p, (Fig. 4). The ten .sprmg con- 10, under the annulus 30 and are for-instance so disposed relatively tothe latter contacts that the first contact 'atp, is mounted radially on the annulus at p, with respect to the first contact, while the next contact at p, is displaced slightly forward in the direction of motion withrespectto thecontact at p, on the annulus. The displacement corresponds tothe space between two steel pins. The next contact at vpQis displaced by "a. further space and so on, as is shown in Fig. 4. Owing to this displacement the steel pins, which have fallen below the annulus 30, close the corresponding contact on the annulus during their forward movement in the apparatus, while at the same time the contact connected in :series therewith is closed by the knob 43.

If, for instance, the steel pin i of one of the six series of. pins has come under the annulus and theforward motion continues, the knob 43 for this series of steel pins will already have closed and opened the contact at p, when the pin arrives at the contact at p, on the annulus, because the knob 43 for each series of pins lies below the pin 2',. As already stated, these two contacts are will be no current impulse On the steel pin arrlvmg at the contact at 1),, the knob 43, which is under the pin i will at the same moment close the contact ;0' and, as the latter is connected in series with the contact at 17 a current impulse will be received, which sets the guiding member for the card in such a manner that the said card will fall intoits pocket 25,.

Figs. 5 and 6 show a relative position of therotating part and of the outer and inner contacts shortl close the contact.

When the pin i arrives at the contact at p, on the annulus, the knob 43 will not yet have reached the contact at p, owing to the relative displacement between these two'series of contacts. The same will be the case when the pins pass the other contacts on the annulus.

Thus, the steel pin i impulse to take place when-itreaches the contact 7 of the annulus.

The position of the contacts '-40 and 44 depends on the construction of the conveyor band and the rate of travel of the same relative to the steel-pins and the posi tion of the card pockets. The position is fixed during the mounting of the before the steel pin i is to I only causes a current machine, as a card, m which the numeral 9- 1s pering parts. 6, is

i v 1,eue,ee a

opposite the idin member Fi '1). The pin whi$ eai lier lay of: the tooth -33- of the electromagnet (Fig. 3) has then arrived at the mark 322,, (Flg. 4). Thus the position of this contact is fixed. If the same operation is undertaken with a card in which the numeral 0 is perforated, the position of p, can be fixed, the pin 2', moving from the tooth of the electromagnet to the proper position for this contact, at the same time as the card moves from its position with the numeral 0 under the contact brush 4- (Fig. 1) to the position opposite the guiding member f (Fig. 1). The position of the other contacts p 8 (Fig. 4) is then found by dividing the arc of circle between and p, in nine parts of the, same size. The position of the contacts -p -p is found by marking out angles from p',,, which angles are equal .to the angular distance between 10, and p plus the angular distance between two steel pins.

With reference to Figure 1 it will be seen that when a holein the card passes the contact brush -4,, a current will flow from the battery 45- through the contact brush 4-, the magnet 34 .and back to the battery. From the battery another conductor leads to the contacts 0' 0' p, and from the contacts 7),, p 17,, connected in pairs in series with the latter, a conductor leads to the corresponding magnet -46- for the guiding members f f f from which a common conductor leads back to the battery. Inthe drawing are only shown the conductors and magnet for the guiding member f Fig. 8 shows the construction of the guiding members 7. The guiding members f are kept in normal position by a tooth. on the armature of the electromagnet 46-. WVhen this armature is attracted the spring 47 will cause the guiding members to rock towards the conveyer band -5, whereby the card standing before the guiding members and supported by the projectguided into its proper pocket. The guiding members are then turned back to the normal position, an extending part 48 of the support 6 engaging a curved member 49- keyed on the shaft for the guiding members f.

The pins, which have passed under the annulus, will alread have run on to the inclined surface 35 Fig. 7) referred to above, before reaching the electromagnet 34, and will thus return to their normal position on the annulus.

The constructional forms shown in the drawings are given as examples only, which may be modified in various ways without departing from the spirit of the invention.

What I claim is 1. An electric sorting machine for perforated cards, having in combination pockets for the cards, a card contact device, guiding members for guiding the cards into the said pockets, a device located between the card contact device and the guiding members and comprising a rotating part, steel'pins in the said rotating part, the number of pins corresponding to the number of sorting pockets in the machine, a stationary guide-way, on the upper surface of which the pins are capable of sliding and an electromagnet and armature connected to the card contact device and capable of releasing and permitting the pins to move below the guide way, said pins being adapted to close a circuit during the further forward movement of the pins, for the purpose of setting the guiding members at the moment, at which the card is in front of its correct pocket, as set forth.

2. An electric sorting machine for perfo-' rated cards,,having in combination sorting pockets for the cards, ac'ard contact device, guiding members for guiding the cards into the said pockets, a device located between the card contact device and the guiding members and comprising a rotating part, a plurality of series of steel pins in the said rotating part, the number of pins in each series corresponding. to the number of sorting pockets in the machine, a stationary annular guide-way, on the upper. surface of which the pins are capable of sliding and an electromagnet and armature connected 'to the card contact device andicapable of releasing and permitting the pins to move below the guide-way said pins being adapted to close a circuit during the further forward movementof the pins, for the purpose of setting the guiding members at the moment, at which the card is in front of its correct pocket, as set forth.

3. An electric sorting machine for perforated cards, having in combination sorting.

pockets for the cards, a card contact device, guiding members for guiding the cards into the said pockets, a device located between the card contact device and the guiding members and comprising a rotating part, a plurality of series of steel pins in the said rotating part, the number of pins in each series corresponding to the number of sorting pockets in the machine, a stationary guiding annulus, on the upper surface of which the pins are capable of sliding, contacts on the under side of the rotating part, one for each series of pins and capable of rotating with the said pins, an electro-magnet connected to the cardfcontact device and capable of releasing and permitting the ins to move below the guide-way said pins eing adapted to close a circuit during the further forward movement of the pins,- two series of contacts below the stationary annulus, the number of which is the same as that of each series of steel pins and which are connected in series in such a mannerthat the contacts of one series are capable of being closed by the pins which have fallen. below the annulus, while the contacts of the. other series are capable of being closed by the contacts on the under side of the rotating part, the two series of contacts below the stationary annulus being arranged rela-' tively to one another 1n such a manner, that.

the angular distance between the contacts 10 of one series is equal to the angular distance between the contacts of the other series plus the angular distance between two steel plIlS.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specificationQ i nnnnnc nosine BU LL. 

